After months of advocacy from faith and global-health communities, Congress decided in last minute negotiations this week to restore $400 million in funding to the program. PEPFAR was the only foreign aid program to win a reprieve in a package Republican lawmakers designed to pull back previously authorized funding to federal programs,

The deal would shield PEPFAR from the Trump Administration’s plan to cancel billions in previously approved but unspent federal funds. The decision came after several Republican senators objected to including the widely celebrated HIV/AIDS initiative in a list of programs targeted for clawbacks under Trump’s campaign to root out what he has called “ waste,

Presented by AstraZeneca{beacon} Health Care Health Care   The Big Story PEPFAR survives rescissions Senate Republicans are removing a global anti-HIV program from the White

PEPFAR was launched in 2003 to stop the spread of HIV in Africa. Now, although some funding remains for the program, many of PEPFAR’s prevention and support services have stalled, as Dr. Atul Gawande,

The U.S. Senate has opened debate on a $9 billion rescission bill to claw back foreign aid and other funding not aligned with Trump administration priorities, but will apparently leave one critical public health program alone.

Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought told reporters after meeting with Senate Republicans on Tuesday that the White House is on board with a substitute amendment to the

The White House backed off $400 million in immediate cuts it was proposing in the global fight against HIV and AIDS and potentially other high-profile health programs. It's part of the package of cuts facing the Senate over the next two days.

PEPFAR has not operated in Russia since 2012, when President Vladimir Putin kicked the United States Agency for International Development out of the country. U.S. law prohibits the use of any federal funds to pay for abortions. Funding abortions through PEPFAR would imply not just waste, but serious crimes or negligence, or both.

As negotiations over the massive spending cuts in President Donald Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” continue, congressional Republicans are divided over whether to save federal funding for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).